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The Book of Second Timothy:
Message Ten
By Dr. Michael
Guido, D.D.
One day a little
girl came into her neighbor's yard with an armful of
parts and asked, "Sir, will you please fix my
tricycle?" "I'm busy," he replied.
"Can't your father fix it?" "No,"
she answered. "He doesn't know anything about
tricycles. All he knows about is God. He knows
everything about Him." If ever there was a
minister who knew much about God it was Paul.
He had an
appointment from Him. For he said in 2nd
Timothy 1:11, "I am appointed a preacher, and an
apostle, and a teacher." To him the ministry was
more than a choice, it was a calling. And there's no
calling if there's no conversion. Before the apostle
Paul asked, "What wilt Thou have me to do?"
he asked, "Who art Thou, Lord?" One must
first settle the matter of the deity of Christ before
he can settle the matter of the duty of the
Christian. And before one can instruct another in the
Scriptures he must first be indwelt by the Spirit.
For the Bible says, "The man who isn't a
Christian can't understand and can't accept these
thoughts, which the Holy Spirit teaches us. They
sound foolish to him, because only those who have the
Holy Spirit within them can understand what the Holy
Spirit means. Others just can't take it in."
There was a minister who didn't understand the
Scriptures or salvation, and he said one day,
"There's no such thing as an experience of
grace." Remarked one of his members,
"Please, sir, you better add to that statement,
'So far as I know.'"
Because of his
appointment from the Lord, the apostle Paul was
willing to suffer affliction for the Lord. He said,
"For the which cause I also suffer these
things." What things? Hear him as he lists them.
"I have been put in jail . . . been whipped
times without number, and faced death again and
again. Five different times the Jews gave me their
terrible 39 lashes. Three times I was beaten with
rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was
shipwrecked. Once I was in the water all night and
the whole next day. I have traveled many weary miles,
and been often in great danger from flooded rivers
and from robbers and from my own people, the Jews, as
well as at the hands of the Gentiles. I have faced
great dangers from mobs in the cities and from death
in the deserts and in the stormy seas and from men
who claim to be brothers in Christ but are not. I
have lived with weariness and pain and sleepless
nights. Often I have been hungry and thirsty and gone
without food; often I have shivered with cold,
without enough clothing to keep me warm. Then,
besides all this, I have the constant worry of how
the churches are getting along: Who makes a mistake
and I do not feel his sadness? Who falls without my
longing to help him? Who is spiritually hurt without
my fury rising against the one who hurt him?"
Yes, appointment and affliction go together, and
success and suffering go together. It was Dr. Edward
Judson who said, in speaking of the life of his
father, "If you're succeeding without suffering,
it's because others before you have suffered; if
you're suffering without succeeding, it's that others
after you may succeed."
Look at his
audacity. Said the apostle Paul, "I am not
ashamed." Along with his conviction he had
courage. He feared man so little because he feared
God so much. That minister who fears man will fail.
No one can be at his best who isn't bold. The Bible
says, "The fear of man bringeth a snare."
Many men are lost to heaven and hope. They're
wallowing in worldliness and wickedness, because some
behind the sacred desk won't speak out against sin.
Oh, for the boldness of John the Baptist. It's true,
he lost his head, but not his heart, nor a home in
heaven.
Listen to his
assurance. He didn't say, "I hope I'm a
Christian," nor did he say, "I suppose I'm
saved," nor did he say, "I'm trying to be a
Christian." He said, "I know whom I have
believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep
that which I have committed unto Him against that
day."
"Not what,
but WHOM I do believe!
That in my
darkest hour of need, hath comfort that no mortal
creed
To mortal man may
give.
Not what, but
WHOM!
For Christ is
more than all the creeds, and His full life of gentle
deeds
Shall all the
creeds outlive.
Not what I do
believe, but WHOM!
Who walks beside
me in the gloom? Who shares the burden wearisome?
Who all the dim
way doth illume, and bids me look beyond the tomb
The larger life
to live?
Not what I do
believe, but WHOM!
Not what, but
WHOM!"
As Michael
Farady, the great scientist was dying, one asked,
"What are your speculations now?" "I'm
not pillowing my head on speculations," he
answered. "'I know whom I have believed and am
persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have
committed unto Him against that day.'"
copyright 2000 Guido Evangelistic
Association
All Scripture verses are
quoted from the New King James Version.
Click here to go
to the next message in this Sower Scripture Study on
the book of Second Timothy.
This series of messages on the
books of the Bible were originally written for
broadcast on Dr. Guido's radio program, "The
Sower." They are collected and reprinted here
for your enjoyment and spiritual edification.
